Installation for manufacturing molded elements



May 26, 1970 'r. NAYAGAM ETAL 3,514,068

INSTALLATION FOR MANUFACTURING MOLDED ELEMENTS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 12. 1967 INSTALLATION FOR MANUFACTURING MOLDED ELEMENTS Filed April 12. 1967 May 26, 1970 'r. NAYAGAM ETAL 3 Sheets-Sheet :3

WAVE/7m Mar 196 ,90;

f, /3. 3/77 6 N Hy y 1970 T. NAYAGAM ETAL $514,068

INSTALLATION FOR MANUFACTURING MOLDED ELEMENTS Filed April 12. 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 761mm; Way/96mm 'IZrenfifi A 77Z M/Ey 3,514,068 INSTALLATION FOR MANUFACTURING MOLDED ELEMENTS Tharma Nayagam, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, as-

signor to Mrs. Suzanne Nayagam, born Perrin, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia Filed Apr. 12, 1967, Ser. No. 630,361 Int. Cl. E04g 11/00 US. Cl. 24918 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An installation for manufacturing in a continuous manner, molded construction elements of hardening material comprising a shuttering box formed with two parallel U- shaped beams resting on a bed, the length of the beams and the bed corresponding to the number of elements to be manufactured, parallel core formers extending in spaced parallel position extending transversely through associated pairs of openings in the U-beams with means being provided to separate successive elements to be cast and to limit the areas of the shuttering box receiving the hardening material to provide corresponding apertures such as windows or doors in the cast elements.

The present invention has for an object a method of manufacture of a moulded construction element of hardening material.

In the methods carried out up to the present, one employs shuttering boxes of different types for walls, floors, sandwich units, etc. placed vertically or horizontally. These boxes are usually filled by hand or sometimes by moving them under filling, levelling and compacting machines. The boxes are made to standard sizes and can only be adjusted with difficulty. By casting small size elements in these boxes one wastes space. Because it is complicated to prepare a box, to fix holding bolts for the shuttering of windows and doors and other accessories, and to form the profile for the end joint, no manufacturer can produce prefabricated elements as a on-oif job. The shop drawings necessary for the preparation of the boxes, the tooling and the assembly of a box for a particular casting are such that it is necessary to cast several hundred similar elements from the same box to make it economical.

We are also aware of the use of shuttering foundation boxes to cast continuous floor slabs which are then cut to the desired length. This method is however not eflicient.

The mechanisation of the casting operations of construction elements for various types has, up to this time, led to the manufacture of standardised elements by means of different types of shuttering boxes, constructed exactly to the given dimensions.

Now architects require the manufacturer to furnish elements of variable dimensions and forms based on a certain module to permit a construction of difierent types of houses or buildings.

The present invention seeks on the one hand to overcome the disadvantages mentioned above and on the other hand, to furnish a solution to the problem posed by the architect to the manufacturer which will permit him to pass easily from one type of element to another without changing the equipment or installation used.

The change from one type of casting to another for instance for wall, floor, beam, column and roof elements, as well as sandwich elements for the construction of buildings of one or several stories, is made in a simple manner and without additional work.

The method according to the invention is characterized in that one disposes in a parallel direction and at a modular distance between them, shuttering cores through a United States Patent shuttering box for the formation of channels in the mass of cast material, one places bracing irons at least between said shuttering cores, one casts the said material into the box between the shuttering cores over a thickness equal to the modular distance between the cores, and one withdraws from the box the shuttering cores when the material has set.

The installation for carrying out the above method is characterized in that it comprises a shuttering box resting on a bed and of which two parallel sides determine the length of the channels in the cast elements; these two sides having pairs of opposite openings to receive the shuttering cores, parallel and separated by the modular distance, and means for modifying at will the surface of the shuttering box adapted to receive the hardening material.

The accompanying drawings shows, by way of example, one embodiment of a detail of the installation of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a shuttering box forming part of the installation.

FIG. 2 is a cross section through two construction elements in the course of manufacture.

FIG. 3 is a section similar to FIG. 2 in another position of the elements.

FIG. 4 is a cross section through an element of the sandwich type.

FIG. 5 is a section similar to FIG. 4 of a variant.

FIG. 6 is a cross section similar to FIG. 4 of another variant.

The detail of the installation shown in FIG. 1 relates to a shuttering box comprising two U-shaped beams 1 disposed parallel to each other on a flat horizontal bed 2 with the legs of the U directed outwardly. These beams 1 are pierced with openings 3 of general hexagonal shape adapted to receive shuttering cores 4 of the type comprising two longitudinal shells a, b (FIG. 5) movable one relative to the other into a shuttering position where they are separated one from the other by means of small links c or into an adjoining edge to edge position for deshuttering. These shuttering cores 4 will not be described in detail because they are not part of the invention.

The beams 1 form two sides of the shuttering box and the bed 2 the base and have a dimension such that this box permits of obtaining a modular thickness of the cast element, for example 15 cm. The openings 3 of the beams 1 are also separated by a modular distance of 15 cm. The dimensions of the elements could be based on another modular distance of say 10-30 cm.

Means for modifying at will the surface of the shuttering box are shown in FIG. 1 by a frame 5 closed on its upper surface 6 and the outer dimensions of which correspond with the inner dimensions of a window. This frame 5 has on two of its parallel sides pairs of openings 7 for the passage of the shuttering cores 4 passing through the box. The bed 2 is fixed in position on the ground and is of the same length as said beams 1. This length corresponds to the number of panels which are to be manufactured in a continuous manner.

For this purpose, the installation according to the invention is provided with several movable means disposed transversally on the beams 1 for cleaning and preparing the bed, spreading and compacting the concrete, heat drying the moulded panels, lifting and transferring the finished panels from the bed to the building place for erecting a vertical panel. A vertical wall is formed in the same manner as the vertical panels, i.e., by casting concrete in the shuttering box of FIG. 1, but without using window or door frames so as to obtain a plain panel.

For giving the desired length of each moulded panel, there are provided means, e.g., wood cross bars 11 extending transversely to the beams 1 and between two core formers 4 in order to prevent concrete to be cast at this place and to provide thereby a separation between two successive panels.

In FIG. 2 the elements are supported on the bed 2 (not shown) and bracing irons 8 are placed between the cores 4 and irons 9 around these cores (see FIGS. 2, 3) according to the loading conditions of the elements, in the case, for example, where these elements serve to form a floor slab or other particularly stressed construction. In the above described method. the concrete is then cast mechanically into the box by means of a hopper (not shown) moving along the box and receiving the fresh concrete from a mixing station also not shown.

The cast concrete conforms to the shape of the frame or of any other device modifying the surface of the box as will be described further on, so that once the concrete has hardened and the shuttering cores 4 have been withdrawn from the box, each element obtained presents itself in the shape of a panel traversed from one side to the other by channels 10 (FIGS. 2, 3) made in the thickness of the panel. In the case of FIG. 1, the panel produced presents a window opening, the dimensions of which correspond to those of the frame 5. To form for example reinforced vertical columns in the cast elements, one can fill on the spot certain channels with concrete after having placed bracing irons.

Instead of the frame 5 or in addition to the latter, one could dispose in the box any other device for obtaining in the cast elements openings of the desired shape and following a determined disposition. The box described permits a wide range of manufacture and the changes from one type of element to another is eifected rapidly and without difficulty.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show two construction elements E, E cast in the box described above and the shuttering cores 4 of which have been eliminated leaving the channels 10 free. These channels 10 are spaced at a modular distance S and the thickness T of the elements E, E is equal to that distance S. A covering piece 11, for example in wood, placed before the casting of the concrete between two shuttering cores on which it rests, is held by means of bolts 12 distributed over the length of the piece 11 and screwing into a lower piece 12 hearing also against these two shuttering cores but on the other side of the same relative to the piece 11. The pieces 11 and 12 are not fastened to the beams 1 of the shuttering box, but are only disposed between two adjacent core formers. By eliminating these pieces 11 and 12 after the hardening of the concrete, one obtains two moulded elements E, E each having at one end a cut-out part 13 respectively 14 with waiting transverse irons 15 and 15'. The elements E and E constitute two panels which can be assembled vertically for forming a vertical wall. The junction between the two adjacent panels E, E is then filled with concrete. The cut-out part 14 permits the junction between the panels E, E and a perpendicular panel D the end of which has on the edge an opening 16 communicating with a channel 10 of this panel D. One thus obtains a T-connection of three vertical panels E, E and D.

The construction element shown partly in FIG. 4 is of the sandwich type comprising panels G, G similar to the panels E, E, and on which one has disposed a layer 21 of insulating material, for example, a foam plastic material after having inserted irons 22 in the concrete still soft of the panels G, G. On this layer 21 are cast panels H, H less thick for they are notsubjected to a charge but form an external covering. These panels H, H are held to the panels G, G by the irons 22. In order to make the ends of panels G, G according to a desired profile, an element M closed by two section irons 26, 26 is inserted between these panels, said section irons being provided with ribs R, R embracing the shuttering core about which are arranged the section irons 26, 26'. These irons 26, 26 are arranged in the shuttering box, extending between the beams 1 around one core former.

4 When the shuttering core is drawn away, the section irons 26, 26 can be compressed thanks to the elasticity of an intermediate packing 27 and then drawn away. The ends of the panels H, H are provided with angle irons 23, 24 fixed by bolts 25 on the section iron 26. These angle irons have ribs for forming corresponding recesses in the panels H, H. The free space between the irons 23, 24 is closed by a piece of wood.

The panel G has at its end adjacent to the section iron 26 a piece of wood 28 serving to form an opening for the channel 10 to communicate with the outside. This piece is removed after the hardening of the concrete. The bracing irons have not been shown in this variant so that the drawing is clearer. The panels H and H are also cast on the same shuttering box as that of the element G, G, but on which additional shuttering means have been adapted. The element M could be located anywhere on the shuttering box for limiting the length of a panel.

FIG. 5 shows how the installation described permits of manufacturing I-elements with a similar shuttering box as shown in FIG. 1, using the same core formers 4. To this end, one fixes on the shells a and b of the core formers, wooden pieces 29 and 30 respectively by means of screws 31, 32. These pieces extend over the whole length of the cores between the beams 1 of the shuttering box of FIG. 1 and thus create longitudinal spaces separating the panel into double-T elements N. The bracing irons have also not been shown in this embodiment.

In FIG. 6 there is shown a building corner assembly constituted by two sandwich panels similar to those of FIG. 4.

The panels P, P are separately manufactured with a shuttering box as previously described in reference to FIG. 1.

At the end of the panel P is formed an opening 38 by means of a piece of wood as shown in 28 in FIG. 4. The end of the panel P is apertured at 39 in the same manner as for the opening 38, this panel P' being arranged perpendicular to the panel P in the building as shown in FIG. 6. The two panels P and P are then assembled by casting concrete in the communicating cavities in which are provided bracing irons. Covering panels 0, 0 similar to the panels H, H of FIG. 4 are provided with grooves 33, 33' respectively forming in the assembly a recess for a tight packing 34.

A tight packing 40 is arranged between said panels P, P.

The installation described is of great simplicity and may be employed by non-specialized manpower for the manufacturing of large alveolate panels.

The installation permits dividing the continuously cast elements into units of different lengths representing multiples of any chosen small module. The ends profiled and provided with bracing irons, are obtained simultaneously with the continuous casting. Such a method provides a construction system based on a module without it being necessary to repeat the drawing. The construction elements being manufactured in a continuous manner and in a line, that is to say adjacent to each other, deficiencies in length do not add up but are compensated from one element to the other. It is thus possible to work with very close tolerances which is not possible with known installations unless one make use of extremely accurate and costly boxes. For the same reason deficiencies in thickness are uniform, and when two panels are joined, their surfaces are always on a level.

In order to pass from one element to another, one always employs the same shuttering cores which represents an important simplification of the installation.

What I claim is:

1. Installation for manufacturing in a continuous manner, moulded construction elements of hardening material, comprising a shuttering box resting on a bed, said shuttering box being formed with two parallel U-shaped beams the length of which corresponds to the number of elements to be manufactured and the bed extending along the length of said U-shaped beams, parallel core formers inserted transversely in pairs of opposite openings in said U-shaped beams, said openings being separated by a modular distance, means for separating successive elements to be cast, and means for limiting the areas of the shuttering box receiving the hardening material in order to provide corresponding apertures such as windows or doors in the cast elements.

2. Installation according to claim 1 wherein the means for limiting the casting areas of the box includes a frame the outer dimensions of which correspond to the inner dimensions of a window, this frame having on two parallel sides pairs of openings to receive the shuttering cores passing through the box.

3. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the means for limiting the areas of the shuttering box includes a covering piece extending between two shuttering cores over the Whole length of these cores, and on one side of the latter, a second longitudinal piece also extending :between these two shuttering cores but on the other side of the latter, and means for fixing said two pieces in position.

4. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the means for limiting the casting areas of the box includes a dividing piece extending over the whole length of a core former on which it rests, the Width of this piece being smaller than the width of the core.

5. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the means for limiting the casting areas of the box includes a cornershaped piece, disposed laterally against the last shuttering core of a row, so as to form an opening on the edge of the moulded element, communicating with the channel formed by the said shuttering core.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 826,599 7/ 1906 Normandin 249-155 X 1,586,030 5/1926 Huff et a1. 249189 X 1,863,549 6/1932 Lockwood 24939 X J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner M. O. SUTTON, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 249-158 

